NBC’s ‘Talent’ Returns Strong, ‘Night Shift’ Opens Fairly Well

ABC's 'Wife Swap' rises; Fox's' 'I Wanna Marry Harry' buried

NBC has won the first Tuesday of the summer season in key demos behind a good return for vet “America’s Got Talent” and a pretty good start for original drama “The Night Shift.” ABC hung in there with its unscripted fare, including the season premiere of “Extreme Weight Loss,” but Fox saw tiny numbers for its alternative series “Riot” and “I Wanna Marry Harry.”

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “America’s Got Talent” averaged a 3.0 rating/9 share in adults 18-49 and 11.9 million viewers overall, standing as easily Tuesday’s top-rated series. It was down just a tick in the demo from last year’s opener, which aired behind “The Voice”; its rating matched the 8-10 p.m. deliveries of ABC, CBS and Fox. In total viewers, this is the best start for “Talent” since 2011.

NBC also had reason to be pleased with the series premiere of medical drama “The Night Shift” (1.6/5 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall), which was the top series in its 10 p.m. time period and came within three-tenths of the “Chicago Fire” season finale of two weeks earlier in the same timeslot. Other than last year’s “Under the Dome” on CBS, no summer scripted drama premiere on the Big Four has premiered higher since ABC’s “Rookie Blue” in 2010; it’s the top NBC scripted summer drama bow since “The Philanthropist” in 2009.

In total viewers, “Night Shift” topped all episodes of “Chicago Fire” since Feb. 4.

NBC claimed the top-rated series in all six half-hours Tuesday in 18-49, 25-54 and total viewers.

At ABC, the season premiere of “Extreme Weight Loss” (1.3/4 in 18-49, 3.9 million viewers overall) was up a tick from last year’s opener to match the show’s highest demo rating since July 2012; it placed second in 18-49 among the Big Four from 8 to 10. And at 10, “Celebrity Wife Swap” (1.2/3 in 18-49, 3.7 million viewers overall) hit season highs, rising 33% from its most recent outing of two weeks ago.

Fox opened the night with “Riot” (0.6/2 in 18-49, 1.4 million viewers overall), which was up a tenth over its special preview episode of two weeks ago but placed a deep fourth among the Big Four. And at 9, “I Wanna Marry Harry” (0.4/1 in 18-49, 1.2 million viewers overall) also finished deep in fourth among the English-language broadcasters (tied with a repeat of CW drama “Supernatural”); it was down from the 0.7 it did a week ago when it got a considerably larger lead-in courtesy of a special airing of “American Idol.”